Romania's OMV Petrom Finds Oil at Offshore Well

Romania's top oil and gas company, OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP], said on Wednesday it identified a new oil reservoir in the Black Sea, with a production potential of an estimated 1,500-2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The reservoir was identified at exploration well Marina 1, in Istria XVIII offshore perimeter, which was drilled 60 kilometres from shore to a depth of about 2,150 meters below the seabed, OMV Petrom said in a statement.

Water depth in the area is about 50 metres.

"The Black Sea is an important area for OMV Petrom, an area which continues to have potential for new discoveries. Currently, production from shallow waters accounts for 18% of the company’s hydrocarbons production in Romania," Gabriel Selischi, member of the OMV Petrom executive board, responsible for exploration and production, said in the statement.

The cost of drilling the exploration well amounted to some 19 million euro ($25.8 million). After the completion of tests, the Marina 1 well will be plugged with cement and abandoned.

In the following months, OMV Petrom will evaluate the results of the Marina 1 well and assess its commercial viability in order to develop and start production. In order to exploit the reservoir, it is necessary to develop required infrastructure, including drilling of the production wells.

Production from the Marina discovery could start over the next 3-4 years, depending on the decision on its commercial viability, and investments necessary for reservoir development are estimated to more than 100 million euro.

OMV Petrom is engaged both in shallow water and in deep water activities in four perimeters in the Black Sea: Istria, Neptul Shallow, Neptun Deep and Midia Deep.

Source: SeeNews